Plato vs. Sarte

The thoughts in a mind are trapped by filters of the mouth, they are trapped by how humans react to things. When a tragic event occurs those filters are lost and our true feeling explode out of us and into the world. In “Allegory of a Cave” by Plato the prisoners are mentally and physically trapped. For a trapped slave a reaction to an event would be much different from that of a free person with no physical or mental limitations. Shackled to a wall would limit the physical reaction of fleeing or finding comfort in another person, having a sheltered mind would limit the emotional reaction.

If shots were fired in your direction the first reaction would be to duck and then run, but if you are shackled to a wall you will not be able to go that far. The slaves in “Allegory of the Cave” are characterized as unintelligent humans. They do not have the ability to speak they have never seen the real world. So these shots that are fired in their direction may not even change how they react. The slave would continue to stand shackled to the wall making no attempt to move out of the way of danger. These limitations are comparable to Estelle in “No Exit” by Sarte. Estelle like the slave is physically trapped in her hell. If shots were fired at her while she was stuck in the drawing room with no exit her reaction would be different than the slave. Estelle has lived in the world free from shackles, she would know that you should duck and run but in her situation she would have nowhere to run to she is trapped by the walls. A physical reaction is brought on by what you know.

Mental damage is worse than physical. Cuts, bruises and wounds will heal in time but mental damage can stay with a person for the rest of their life. The slave does not have any idea that a shot from a gun would injure them. Having a sheltered mind is dangerous and that is exactly how the slave lives. When the slaves are set free they don’t know what to do because they have never been exposed to freedom. In “No Exit” the character Estelle would mentally be destroyed from an event like this. Throughout the play we learn that she is mentally unstable and has things in her past that she regrets and dwells on an event such as a shooting would mentally break her into nothing. Plato wrote his characters as slaves with no back story they are just figures that stand shackled to the cave walls, while Sarte wrote each of his characters with pasts that are coming back to haunt them these characters are normal everyday people that now have to face the harsh reality of their sins. With each character comes a different reaction because of the environment that they have been exposed to.

The difference between Plato and Sarte is how they portray their characters. Physical and mental reactions make people who they are. The slave and Estelle have different reactions to the same situation because they have been brought up in different environments allowing them to be different types of people. Both characters represent a part of every person that is real. The Slave represents a part of people that is uneducated and ignorant this is about no know exactly what is happening and not having the culture to respond appropriately. Estelle represents the people that are educated and know how to react in these situations even though she would not be fully able to react physically in the right manor she is able to mental react.